The Firefighter and the Pyromaniac
by JellyBeanBubbles
Summary: She fought fires, he made them. They shouldn't feel this way about each other… right? My contribution to nalu week, a 7 chapter short story with fluff galore! One chapter per day XD Rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

 **So this is what I came up with for NaLu week. I've been tinkering with this for a year and been waiting for this week to upload it. Let me know what you think by leaving a lovely review! Hope you enjoy  
**

* * *

"So, what caused the fire this time Mr Dragneel?"

It was 3pm on a sunny Thursday afternoon. A fire had broken out in a small townhouse in the city of Magnolia… yet again.

This was the third fire just this month and the local fire station was getting pretty fed up with the culprit. Especially the blonde female firefighter who somehow always happened to be on duty whenever they happened.

Her brown tired eyes stared at the culprit with an unamused look while he sheepishly scratched the back of his head while he sat cross legged on the floor of his partially burnt home.

"Didn't I tell you last time to just call me Natsu?" he asked with a sheepish smile.

The blonde felt her right eye twitch; a habit she picked up whenever she had to talk to him.

"And didn't _I_ tell _you_ last time to stop setting fire to your house!?" she yelled angrily.

Natsu flinched at her loud tone; for a guy with sensitive ears her voice could be pretty painful.

"Damn Lucy, do you have ta yell so loud?" he grumbled while rubbing his ear.

The blonde huffed at his nonchalant attitude and pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance.

"That's Miss Heartfilia to you, Pyromaniac. Now, back on topic, the start of the fire?" she asked while holding a clipboard with information on the fire.

Natsu started laughing nervously "Well… funny story, ya see I tried to make one of my dragon sculptures blow fire, and well… obviously some wires touched that shouldn't and well… yeah"

By this time Lucy had covered her face with her hand in exasperation.

' _Of all the dumb, moronic, imbecilic, hazardous- ugh, why do I always get stuck with this guy?!'_ she thought with fake tears streaming down her cheeks.

"And you thought doing that inside was a good idea?" she asked with a raised brow.

"I was so excited about it I didn't really think about 'inside' or 'outside'" he muttered with a pout.

Lucy sighed, he acted like such a child sometimes "Well at least you managed to keep the fire from going out of control this time" she said as she wrote down what he said.

Natsu grinned at this "Course I did, I even bought one a those mini extinguishers you told me to get!" he said while pointing at what she assumed to be an empty tiny fire extinguisher.

She smiled softly at this _'Well, at least the idiot is paying attention'_

"Good for you, but I think it's time you get a normal sized one, and this time get at least three" said Lucy with a small smile.

"Eh?! Those things are expensive Lucy!" he yelled in shock.

"So are your insurance premiums! Which, by the way, will keep going up the more you set your place on fire!" she yelled in annoyance.

"I can't help it!"

"Oh you-!"

"Yo Lucy, we're just about done here. Luckily the fire was only in the living room… sorry am I interrupting?"

Lucy sighed in exasperation as one of her co-workers walked next to her.

"No Gray, I'm just trying to educate him about fire safety… again" she said while pinching the bridge of her nose.

The raven haired man burst out laughing and ruffled his sweaty hair "I think you should give up while you can, better men than you have tried to teach this idiot" he said while pointing at Natsu.

Natsu scowled "I hope you're not talking about yourself Fullbuster, coz you know I've always been better than you" he said with a smirk.

Gray stopped laughing and glared in Natsu's direction "Haah? I dare you to say that again Pyro!" yelled Gray angrily as he stomped towards him.

Natsu stood up and banged his head against Gray's "I'm. Better. Than. You" he said with a smirk.

Gray grabbed Natsu's shirt and was about to raise his fist to punch him in the face but-

"Do I hear fighting?"

Gray and Natsu froze; that could only be the voice of one person, the Vice Captain of the Fire Department, Erza Scarlet.

She was glaring at the two men while holding her helmet under her arm, letting her long blood red hair flow down.

Gray immediately went on the defensive and wrapped his arm around Natsu's shoulder like he would for a buddy.

"W-What are ya talking about Erza, us fighting? No way!" he said while sweating nervously.

"Y-Yeah, we're the best of friends, we would never fight!" said Natsu also sweating quite a bit.

Lucy sweat-dropped at the scene, it made her question her sanity knowing that this was a common occurrence.

"Well, I suppose it's only normal for even the best of friends to fight sometimes, right Lucy?" asked Erza with a soft smile.

"Uh, sure Erza" she said with an unconvincing smile.

"Anyway, we're just about done here. You know the drill by now right Natsu?" asked Erza sending a questioning look at the man.

By now the two men had stepped far away from each other and crossed their arms like children who just got scolded for something.

"Yeah yeah, I remember" he said with a pout.

"Good" she said with a satisfied smile.

Which disappeared once she looked at Gray.

"Gray, stop taking off your overalls and let's go alright?" she said while pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Huh?" Gray looked down and noticed that his overalls were now bunched up to his knees.

Lucy blushed and covered her eyes; how this guy developed a stripping habit was beyond her.

"Ah crap, not again!"

"Oi! Don't strip in other people's houses! What, were you raised in a strip club or something?!" yelled Natsu in disgust.

"Say's the guy who sets his own house on fire on a regular basis" grumbled Gray redressing himself.

"Anyway, if that's all I think we should go, I have a report to write up" said Lucy exasperatedly.

"Ah, wait Lucy!" yelled Natsu grabbing her by her shoulder.

"Hm?" she turned and looked at him questioningly.

"Well, since my house seems to catch fire on a regular basis, maybe you should give me your number? That way you guys can get here faster!" he yelled with a proud grin.

"Huh?! We get here plenty fast already! Why would you need my number, why not Erza's?!" she asked with a blush.

"Pwease Wucy! Pweas pweas pweas!?" begged Natsu while giving her his most effective puppy dog look.

' _Are you a two-year-old?!_ ' she thought in shock.

She didn't really want to give him her number, God knows what he would do with it if she did, but, that damned face of his was just too friggen adorable she was losing her resistance.

Suddenly she had an idea; it would be kind of mean but considering how pushy he was being she thought it would be fine to mess with him a little.

"Fine fine, gimme your phone" she said in a defeated tone while sticking her hand out.

"Yay!"

Once she had his phone Lucy punched a number in and put her name in. She smirked internally; this was sure to teach him a lesson about being annoying.

"Alright, there" she finished and handed him back his phone.

"Sweet! I'll send ya a text right now!" he said excitedly.

Lucy froze, he wasn't supposed to text her right away! Great now he'll know!

The message tone went off on a nearby phone and the owner opened it up to check. Once they read the text they scowled and sent a glare in Lucy's direction.

"Really Lucy, you gave my number to the Pyro? That's just mean" said Gray looking at his phone in disgust.

"Wha-! You gave me that popsicle's number instead!? Lucy, that's so cruel!" whined Natsu who looked like a kicked puppy.

Lucy looked to the floor sheepishly. It was just a prank, they didn't need to make her feel so guilty.

"I'm surprised, I never expected something like this from you Lucy" said Erza with a surprised look.

"Oh alright already!" yelled Lucy angrily as she yanked Natsu's phone out of his hand and placed her real number inside.

"There! You can even text to check it's my real number! Geez, since when do you guys not know how to take a joke?" she muttered with a pout.

Natsu grinned happily and proceeded to text Lucy.

"By the way, what did his text say?" asked Erza as she tried to read it over Gray's shoulder.

' _Sup Wierdo!'_

Erza sweat-dropped at this. If he was going to send these kinds of messages to Lucy she kind of understood why she didn't want him to have her number.

"And send" said Natsu while staring at Lucy waiting for her to receive his message.

Lucy heard the message tone of her phone go off and reluctantly took it out to see what ridiculous thing Natsu had sent her.

' _Nice try with the fake number Lucy, but you'll have to do better than that to prank me XD. Ps, your face was so cute when I caught you out :P'_

Lucy blushed at that last sentence. She looked at Natsu's face only to see a shameless grin on it. He looked so happy just to get her number… he doesn't like her, does he?

' _Maybe I'm reading too much into this, my writer's imagination does tend to go wild'_ she thought logically.

Natsu was looking at Lucy expectantly. For a second she wondered what he was waiting for, then realised he wanted a reply to his text.

Lucy sighed in exhaustion and typed something with a pink tinge on her cheeks.

Natsu heard his phone go off and grinned when he saw it was a text from Lucy; which he opened immediately.

' _You weirdo, if you spam me I'm blocking your number forever XP'_

He chuckled at her message and prepared to type a reply… when he was brought back to reality by an annoying scoff which made him scowl.

"Could you two flirt in the privacy of your own homes? Watching this is making me wanna barf" said Gray with a look of disgust.

"We're not flirting!" yelled Lucy in embarrassment.

"I am in my own home droopy eyes, you're the one invading my space" said Natsu with an angry scowl.

"No need to tell me twice slanty eyes, I'm out" said Gray while doing a peace sign and walking out of Natsu's front door.

Lucy face palmed "I can't believe he did that, what is he? A teenager?" said Lucy in shame.

Erza cleared her throat also feeling shamed by her co-worker's actions "Anyway, Lucy we really should be going now. You can text each other once your shift has ended, in the meantime let's report back to the station" she said

"Yes Erza" said Lucy with a tired sigh while making her way to Natsu's front door.

"Be sure to be more careful in the future Mr Dragneel" said Erza with a strict glare.

Natsu flinched and put his hand up in a mock salute "Aye Sir!" he said fearfully.

"Good boy" said Erza with a nod of approval while Lucy sniggered in the background at his reaction.

"Bye Lucy, I'll text ya later" he said with a happy grin.

Lucy blushed slightly at his innocent yet charming expression and just nodded.

* * *

Once everything was cleared up and all the firefighters left Natsu was finally alone in his slightly charred living room.

He sighed deeply to himself and deflated into a crouched position, his cheeks starting to redden.

"At least this time I won't have to set my house on fire just to see her again" he said with a shaky breath.

He covered his face with his hands and stared at Lucy's number on his phone. A happy grin made its way on his face.

"Haaah~ she was so cute today, I nearly died! At least I finally managed to get her number".

He could just imagine the look on his dad's face when he told him about this; he would call him an idiot for not asking her directly and costing himself a fortune in repair bills. But Lucy was just… so fucking pretty! There was no way she would have just given him her number so easily; she would have thought he was a creep or something.

' _Says the guy who purposefully sets his own home on fire just to talk to a pretty girl'_ he thought ironically.

"No time to dwell on how I did it! The point is I managed to get her number!" he yelled in excitement.

' _Now… how long is a guy meant to wait before asking her out again?'_

* * *

 ** _Please leave a review and let me know what you think. Chapter 2 will be up tomorrow guys! XD_**


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

 **Hey guys! Thanks for the response, looks like this fic is off to a good start! Well here's chapter 2 as promised, please leave a review to let me know what you think! XD  
**

Three days later, Natsu went to the local pet store and grab some food for his cat when he ran into the last person he expected to see.

"Ah!"

"Natsu? What are you doing here?" asked Lucy curiously with her head tilted slightly.

He was certainly not expecting this. He had never seen Lucy out of her work clothes, this was the first time he had ever seen her without her protective gear; and he liked what he saw.

Lucy was wearing a tight red tank top that accentuated her curves dangerously; the fact that she was wearing Natsu's favourite colour practically had him drooling at the sight, she had tight black skinny jeans and converse sneakers. Her hair was done in a braid and hanging off her right shoulder.

She was staring at him curiously; since this was the first time she had seen him not covered in soot or near flammable objects, her big brown eyes making his heart go crazy as they looked over him, if he didn't know any better he would think that she had been checking him out, but that wasn't possible… was it?

Of all places to run into her he never would have figured he would find her in a pet store.

Realizing he was just gaping instead of answering her question he cleared his throat nervously and rubbed the back of his neck, trying to look anywhere but at her.

"Oh, well, remember that one time I called you guys when that blue cat got stuck up my tree?" he asked.

Lucy's eye twitched in annoyance at the memory "Oh yeah, how could I forget. You thought you'd try to get it down yourself and then got stuck as well, you refused to let Gray help you down and Erza ended up getting you two down herself" she said as she crossed her arms with a huff.

Natsu flinched; that was one of his least manliest moments ever, and he was so ashamed that she saw him like that.

"Yeah, so the cat ended up getting attached to me and I ended up keeping him. I'm here to get some special snacks for him" he said with a sheepish grin.

The anger on Lucy's face disappeared and was replaced with mild surprise.

"Really?"

Natsu nodded excitedly "Yup, the little guy loves those fishy treats, can't get enough of em" he said with a grin.

"That's so cute" Lucy muttered.

Natsu's eyes widened, was she calling his cat cute or him? When Lucy realized she had said that out loud her face went pink and she covered her mouth in embarrassment.

Natsu said nothing, he just grinned at her with slightly pink cheeks.

"By the way, what are _you_ doing here Lucy?" he asked suddenly curious.

"Eh? Oh I'm just grabbing some shampoo for my dog, I took him for a walk earlier and he sorta jumped into a mud puddle" she said with an endearing smile.

"That's cool, I didn't know you had a dog" he said with a grin.

"Yup, he's my little angel Plue" she said with a proud smile.

"But I still can't believe you took in that cat, did you ever figure out why he was blue when we found him?" she asked curiously.

"Turns out it was hair dye, not sure how it got on him, but I think it looks cool. I mean how many people can say that they have a blue cat right?" he said with a grin as he put his hands in his pockets.

Lucy giggled at this "True, I just hope you make sure he's safe when you start your fires, I'd hate to have to call animal services on you" she said with a sudden air of seriousness.

Natsu recoiled in shock "Of course! I'd never let anything happen to Happy, he's my little buddy!" yelled Natsu defensively.

Lucy blinked then smiled widely at him, making his face go a little pink.

"Good, you wouldn't believe how many times I've been on call and found that people just leave their pets in a burning building without a care. It's so sad" she said with a scowl.

Natsu smiled softly at her, it was nice to see how much she cared about animals, and she was very dedicated to her job. It made his heart throb seeing how passionate she could be.

Natsu suddenly put his hand on her head and started rubbing it affectionately, Lucy blinked in shock at the action and looked at him with wide eyes.

"Good thing those animals have you to look out for them then huh?" he said with a grin.

Lucy blushed a deep shade of red, suddenly very embarrassed, and turned abruptly so that he couldn't see her face. He did see her ears go red though which made him smirk victoriously.

"W-well I b-better go get that shampoo then" she said softly as she walked further into the store to look around.

Natsu watched her walk away nervously and grinned to himself. At least now he knew he had _some_ chance with her, if she reacted like that anyway.

"Hey mister, you buying something or what?" asked the shopkeeper.

Snapping out of his daze at the man's voice Natsu flushed and gave him a sheepish smile as he rubbed the back of his head.

"I'll take a bag of those fish nuggets please" he said as he pulled out his wallet… only to realize that he didn't have his wallet on him.

"Ah shit, you gotta be kiddin me!" he yelled as he pat himself down trying to find it.

"Is something wrong Natsu?" asked Lucy as she came towards the register with a bottle of fancy looking shampoo.

"No no, everything's fine" he said in a panic; the last thing he wanted was for her to see him lose his cool over a wallet.

"Did you forget your wallet or something?" she asked with a tilt of her head.

Natsu froze, she hit the nail right on the head there. How was she so observant?

He laughed nervously and started to sweat; he really blew his chances with her now, what kind of lame guy forgets his own wallet?

Before he even knew what happened Lucy had paid for her shampoo and his cat treats in the blink of an eye.

"Here you go, now your cat gets his treats" she said with a smile as she handed him the bag of fish nuggets.

"Aw man, ya didn't have to do that Lucy. Now I feel bad" he said while looking at the bag in guilt.

"Oh don't be silly, think of it as me getting a treat for the little cutie, it was my pleasure" she said with a smile.

"Nope, can't do that. I owe you now. So I have to think of a way to repay you" he said stubbornly.

' _Wait… this could actually work out for me!'_ he thought sneakily.

"Huh? Oh no, it's totally fine. Think of it as a favour!" she protested; why was he being so stubborn about this?

"Well since you bought food, the only way to repay you would be by getting you food in return, right?"

"Uh-"

"Right, then it's settled, you're coming over to my place the next time your off duty for dinner"

"…Wait, what?" asked Lucy in confusion.

"Lemme think, my next pay check comes in on Thursday… so how about Friday? You free then?" asked Natsu with an innocent grin and tilt of his head.

"Well yeah, I think so" answered Lucy flabbergasted.

' _What is happening?! Is he asking me out or something?!'_ she thought with swirls for eyes.

"Perfect, so I'll text you the time and you can come over on Friday night! Great see ya then!" he yelled as he made a mad dash away from the pet store.

Lucy was in a state of disbelief, it all happened so fast she had no time to process it until now.

So, he had asked her to dinner, with the premise that it was just a form of repayment for buying cat treats for him? He didn't have ulterior motives did he?

Lucy shook her head, there was no way Natsu of all people had ulterior motives, all that guy thought about was fire and how to set it on everyday objects. Right, he was just doing this to repay her, that's all. No need for her to feel so excited and nervous about it, none at all. And her heart definitely wasn't pounding at the idea of being alone with him at his place, nope, not at all.

' _Oh man, I am so screwed'_

* * *

Natsu ran until he felt he was a reasonable distance away from the beautiful blonde, cat treats in a brown paper bag under his arm. He stopped at the nearby park and took a long deep breath.

"I got a date! Yes! Woohoohoohoo! Everybody mambo!" he yelled out excitedly, suddenly grabbing a random passer-by that got too close and swinging them around in happiness.

"Oh my goodness!" yelled the person; a rather large woman in clothes that were a few sizes too small for her and a creepy ferret fur scarf that had eyes Natsu swore blinked at him once.

"Da-ra-ta-ta, da-rum-pa! ~ I got a date!" he yelled with oblivious happiness while dancing around like a crazy person.

"Good for you, now let me down you crazy person!" yelled the lady in Natsu's grip as she tried hitting his head with her only free hand.

"Sorry, sorry! Have a great day Sir!" he yelled as he put the woman down and actually… skipped down the sidewalk happily.

The lady, enraged at being confused for a man, took off her shoe and threw it at Natsu's head with pin point accuracy.

"I'm a woman you moron!" she yelled, miffed that he didn't even seem to feel her shoe at all.

Nothing could kill Natsu's mood now, he would wear this self-satisfied grin the rest of the week. He had to go home and give Happy the largest amount of catnip he could, who knew buying cat treats would result in him getting a date?

His cat really lived up to his namesake.

Well, granted she had no idea of his ulterior motives, it still counted right?

* * *

 **Thanks fore reading, hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review with your thoughts XD**


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

 **So here's chapter 3! Please leave a review guys XD  
**

* * *

"So it's a date?"

Lucy was sitting in her bedroom with her long-time friend Levy McGarden, trying to explain why she needed help picking out an outfit for tonight.

It was not a fun conversation.

"No Lev! He just invited me over to thank me for paying for snacks for his cat!" she cried with a red face.

The whole situation was embarrassing, Levy had been teasing her for years about her bad luck with guys, and now with Natsu's invitation she jumped at the chance to tease Lucy again.

"Yeah, sure. And I'm a fairy princess Lu" said Levy with a deadpanned look.

Lucy glared at her blue-haired friend, Levy was so short and petite that she could have convinced her she actually was a fairy. But Lucy knew Levy was very sensitive when it came to her height so she chose not to bring it up and make her mad.

"From what you've told me Lu it seriously sounds like this Natsu guy has a major thing for you. I'm surprised you can't see it" said levy as she dug through her friend's closet to find something nice.

Lucy blushed and scoffed Levy's words.

"You're crazy Lev, no guy would use his own cat just to ask a girl out" said Lucy as she looked at two dresses laid out on her bed.

Levy stopped what she was doing and gave Lucy a hard look over her shoulder. Lucy blinked and realised what she had said and pointed at Levy accusingly.

"Just because your weirdo boyfriend did it, doesn't mean Natsu is!" she said with an embarrassed huff.

Lucy was of course referring to the time when Levy found a lost black kitten on her porch during a thunder storm. The poor thing was terrified and soaked, so Levy being the little saint she is took him in and fed him what she had in her fridge.

Since he had a collar but no number, she put up posters in her neighbourhood to try and find his owner, and luckily after only a day his owner called.

So Levy met little Pantherlilly's owner, Gajeel. A large rough looking man, she never would have thought a man like him would own a cat, but once she handed him his cat she found out he was actually a big softy on the inside.

Gajeel was so grateful to her for keeping his cat safe that he told her if she ever needed anything she could call him and he would be there.

After a few exchanged texts and being treated to lunch Levy asked Gajeel out and they had been dating ever since.

"I'm just trying to make sense of things for you Lu. What does this guy do for a living anyway?" asked Levy curiously as she looked at Lucy.

Lucy sighed and sat down on her bed "He's some kind of pyrotechnics master. Basically he makes fireworks, and creates machines for concerts and performers who want pyrotechnics" she explained.

Levy blanched and started laughing uncontrollably at this. She was laughing so hard she had to hold her stomach.

Lucy glared and grumbled at Levy's reaction.

"Well I'm so glad you find it so amusing Lev" said Lucy with a huff.

Levy calmed her laughter down to a small giggle and gave Lucy and amused smirk.

"Come on Lu, you can't blame me for finding this funny. I mean he literally plays with fire for a living, and you are a firefighter! You don't get any more ironic than that!" said Levy with a giggle.

Lucy gave Levy an unamused look "Oh yeah, do I need to point out that you and Gajeel are pretty much the embodiment on irony?" said Lucy.

"Was that a crack at my height? And here I am trying to make you look cute for your date tonight, that's gratitude for you" said Levy with a huff.

"It is not a date!" yelled Lucy again.

Levy rolled her eyes at Lucy's protests.

"Ok Lu, let me ask you something. Do you like this guy?" asked Levy seriously.

Lucy pouted a Levy's question and blushed, avoiding any eye contact with her. "Well… I don't _hate_ him" she muttered softly.

Levy sighed, Lucy was always so shy when it came to guys and dating, it was a wonder how she dated at all.

"Okay… well, if this does turn out to be a date, how would you feel about that?" asked Levy as she sat down next to Lucy on her bed and looked at her expectantly.

Lucy thought for a moment, how would she feel if it turned out to be a date? When she thought about Natsu she didn't have any problem with him, other than his tendency to set his home on fire he was a great guy. He was always smiling that impossibly cute smile, he was pretty funny and he had a love for animals that she couldn't resist. Not to mention that he was easy on the eyes, his boyish features were so handsome and he was muscular, but not like Gajeel, more lean.

After thinking about it Lucy blushed when she realised she wouldn't have a problem with dating Natsu, and suddenly felt very nervous about this dinner date with him tonight.

Lucy groaned and fell back on her bed with her hands covering her red face.

"Oh Levy! Why would you ask me that?!" whined Lucy.

Levy giggled at Lucy's reaction and pat her knee.

"I love ya Lucy, and I want you to be happy. I'm just making you face your own feelings right now. And besides Natsu sounds like a good enough guy. Not to mention I'm sure there'd be less fires at his place if you two started dating" said Levy with a giggle.

Lucy smacked Levy on her shoulder playfully "Don't even joke about that Lev. You make it sound like he purposefully set his home on fire just to talk to me" scoffed Lucy.

"Well… I mean if you think about it-"

"No! Don't go there! Stop talking! I'm nervous enough as it is and I don't want you putting ideas into my head!" yelled Lucy as she tried to cover her friend's mouth.

"Okay, okay! Let's just get you all pretty for tonight and then you can worry about your possibly crazy pyromaniac boyfriend" teased Levy with a grin.

"Levy!"

* * *

"Happy! I'm back!" yelled Natsu as he walked into his home with his hands full of grocery bags.

The little blue cat jumped at the sound of his name and grocery bags and ran towards the kitchen where he expected his owner to be.

Happy meowed loudly and rubbed against Natsu's legs as he put the grocery bags down on his kitchen counter.

"Yeah, yeah I know what you want" said Natsu as he dug through one of the bags and pulled out a can of tuna that had Happy clawing at his legs.

Natsu cringed and grabbed a can opener.

"I know you're hungry lil' buddy, I'm opening the can now" said Natsu as he pulled the lid off and emptied the contents into Happy's bowl. Happy immediately let go of Natsu and started chowing down.

Natsu sighed and started to put the rest of his groceries in the right place.

He spent the whole week trying to figure out what to make Lucy for dinner, his tastes were a lot different from other people since he had a preference for spicy foods, but he wasn't so sure that Lucy would appreciate her mouth burning when he was trying to repay a favour.

So having limited options he decided to go with spicy fried chicken and rice. Making sure to get mild spices especially for Lucy.

It was now 4pm, Lucy said she would arrive at 6, so Natsu had plenty of time to shower, cook, and clean his place before she got there.

Natsu grinned with excitement. He couldn't wait for Lucy to come by, and this time she wouldn't be in her firefighter getup.

Natsu blushed when the memory of Lucy in casual clothes resurfaced, and he wondered what she would wear tonight.

Realising he was wasting time, Natsu slapped his cheeks and started to clean up his house. Making sure all visibly flammable objects were put away and the new extinguishers he got were put in a place where Lucy would see them.

"Alright! Let's get ready for Lucy!" said Natsu with an excited grin as he looked at Happy.

Happy looked at Natsu blankly and meowed in response.

"I'll take that as an 'Aye Sir!'" said Natsu with a thumbs up as he marched towards his bathroom.

* * *

It was almost time for Lucy to show up so Natsu went into his kitchen to start cooking. He made sure to apply mild spices for Lucy's portion while making his in his signature flaming fire spice. The rice and veggies were just about done, all that was left for him to do was fry the chicken and his meal would be complete.

He was just about to start frying when his doorbell rang, making Happy glance up from his seat on the couch curiously.

' _Crap, she's earlier than I thought she'd be. But… that just means she was looking forward to this too right?_ ' thought Natsu with an elated grin.

Natsu wiped his greasy hands on a cloth and placed the spiced chicken next to the stove. He sucked in a nervous breath and made his way to the front door.

"Okay Happy, wish me luck" said Natsu nervously.

Happy meowed at his owner and went back in his sleeping position. Natsu scowled at his cat's lack of enthusiasm but shrugged it off and grabbed hold of the doorknob.

Once he opened it and saw Lucy his breath caught in his throat.

Lucy was wearing a beautiful strapless red sundress and a black cardigan, her hair was done in a high ponytail with a red bow and she was wearing black ballet flats.

Natsu's heart was beating rapidly. She was here, right in front of him, and she looked so damn cute it was downright criminal. Not to mention…

' _She's wearing red! My favourite colour! This couldn't get any better!'_ thought Natsu as he tried to contain his elated grin.

Lucy stood in front of Natsu and fidgeted nervously, he was just standing in front of her and gawking. Like he couldn't believe she had shown up, and he looked so happy that she was there. She was worried that the outfit Levy picked out for her would be too much, but seeing his face like that made her kind of happy about it now. She realised she wouldn't mind him thinking she at least looked cute right now since he'd only ever seen her in her uniform.

Noticing that he hadn't moved since he laid eyes on her Lucy tried to wake him from his stupor by clearing her throat.

"Uhm, am I late or something? You look surprised to see me" she said nervously.

Natsu snapped out of his daze and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"S-sorry about that, you just looked so pretty I sort of forgot how to talk" he said with a shy grin.

Lucy's face went so red at his words steam was coming out of her ears, how could he say such embarrassing stuff so easily?!

"W-what do you…? I-Idiot, are you gonna let me in or what?!" she said avoiding eye contact and squirming shyly.

Natsu chuckled at her reaction and moved out of the doorway to let her through.

"Please, enter my humble home fair maiden" he said with a fake British accent.

Lucy blinked and giggled at his silly behaviour, sometimes this guy was just too much.

"Why thank you kind Sir, I shall" she answered, playing along by also speaking British as she entered his home.

Lucy looked around his house and took in all the surroundings, for once she wasn't checking to see if anything was on fire so she could finally appreciate his home and his style.

"Gotta say, it's nice to be able to look at your place without having to worry about any burning furniture" she said with a smile.

Natsu chuckled sheepishly and closed his door "Yeah, and it's nice to let you see my place when it actually looks clean. You can make yourself comfortable on the couch, I'm almost done with-"

Suddenly all the lights to his place went out and they were left in his hallway in the dark.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading guys! Please don't forget to leave a review, it always helps the confidence to know that you guys like my writing XD**


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

 **Hey my wonderful readers! Glad to see your enjoying this fic so far! So here's the next chapter, don't forget to leave a review and let me know if you liked it XD  
**

* * *

Darkness.

That was all Lucy and Natsu could see at the moment. Lucy wasn't sure what had happened, one minute she was in Natsu's home and about to enter his living room, when suddenly the lights went out and she couldn't see anything.

"Ah what the hell!?" she heard Natsu yell suddenly.

"Is everything alright Natsu? What happened?" she asked mildly worried. She put her arms in front of her to try and find a wall to lean on and maybe figure out where Natsu was.

Natsu sighed in annoyance "Looks like a power outage. Of all the damn days why now!?" he groaned.

"Did you pay your power bill?" asked Lucy skeptically.

"Of course I did! Dammit where did I put that flashlight?" said Natsu as he put his arms up and tried to feel where his stuff was.

Lucy then realised that she could just use her cell phone as a light source and reached inside her purse to find it. Until she felt something grab her chest and squeeze suddenly.

"Huh? What's this? It's squishy" asked Natsu suddenly as he squeezed this unknown 'object' in his right hand.

Lucy was frozen in shock, Natsu was groping her boob… and he had no idea. Embarrassment and anger erupted and she raised her hand in the air with purpose.

"K-Kyaaa! You pervert!" she screamed as she slapped his face so hard he hit the wall with a thud.

"Oof! What the hell?" said Natsu as he rubbed his aching head. He looked for Lucy and saw her holding up her cell phone as a light source. She was covering her chest protectively with her left arm and glaring at him threateningly. Her face was red and her stance defensive.

Suddenly Natsu had a feeling he knew what was so squishy in his hand a moment ago.

He looked at his hand cautiously and experimentally moved his fingers, recalling the memory of what he felt. He started sweating nervously and his face went red.

' _Did I just… grope Lucy?'_ he thought nervously.

One look at her was all the confirmation he needed. He felt guilt surge through him and he put his hands together as if to pray for forgiveness.

"I'm so sorry Lucy! It was an accident I swear!" yelled Natsu in embarrassment as he closed his eyes nervously.

Lucy stared at him as he begged for forgiveness and sighed.

' _How can I be mad when he goes and does that'_ she thought in annoyance.

"It-it's fine, just make sure you don't do it again" she said with an annoyed huff as she looked away from him.

Natsu glanced up at Lucy in awe, she was forgiving him? Really?

"You're so nice Lucy!" he said with comical tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Well I mean, I already slapped you. I see no need to punish you more than that" she said in mild embarrassment.

Natsu chuckled at that and got up from his position on the floor where he fell.

"Good point, you sure don't hold back. I gotta say that slap could rival Erza's" he said as he rubbed his cheek.

Lucy gave Natsu a look that said she was not convinced "Oh please, I've seen her knock teeth out of a man the size of a bear, I did not slap you that badly" she said defensively.

Natsu shivered involuntarily at the image, he pitied the man who summoned her wrath that day.

"Fair point. By the way smart idea using your cell as a light source, we can use it to find some candles and flashlights" said Natsu as he followed the light to a nearby drawer to dig for some more light.

Lucy paled when he mentioned candles "I'm not so sure I want you lighting anything on fire in the dark" she said nervously.

Natsu scowled at her distrust, but he honestly couldn't blame her for it. After all the only interactions she's had with him has been to put out fires in his home.

"Please Lucy, have a little faith. In spite of what you may think I'm not so much of an idiot that I would set fire to my own home while trying to light a candle" he said in an offended tone.

Lucy looked to the ground guiltily, she wasn't trying to insult his intelligence, she was just worried.

"I wasn't trying to call you an idiot, I just-"

"I get it, after all I am a pyromaniac. But trust me, I won't do anything to endanger your life while you're with me" he said with a look of determination.

Lucy gasped in surprise at his words and just nodded her head numbly. He looked so earnest when he said that, as if she was someone very important to him. The thought made her insides gooey.

"Aha! Here we go!" said Natsu cheerfully as he grabbed a handful of candles and a pack of matches.

Maybe it was the firefighter in her or that fact that Natsu had a hungry look in his eyes, but she was suddenly very nervous about those candles. She swallowed in nervous anticipation.

Natsu looked at Lucy over his shoulder and wore a mischievous grin.

"Well I wasn't planning on having a candlelit dinner, but it seems the universe had other plans" he said cheekily.

Lucy blinked suddenly and giggled at his statement. This guy was such a goofball, it was strange but he had a calming effect on her when he was like this. All her nervousness went away and she felt lighter somehow.

Natsu gathered all his candles and candlesticks together and placed them on his dining room table, while Lucy was keeping her phones light on him so that he could see what he was doing.

"Alright, that's all of em" he said as he lit a match and started lighting up the candles.

Once they were all lit he placed them in different rooms while Lucy sat waiting on the couch.

When he finished he walked up to Lucy who was taking the time to check something on her phone.

"Well I've done what I can, what ya up to Lucy?" asked Natsu as he looked at Lucy curiously.

Lucy glanced at Natsu from her phone "I'm checking to see the status of this power outage and if it's going to last long. Being a firefighter allows me some perks when it comes to stuff like this" she said with a smile and a wink.

Natsu blinked in surprise and tried to hide his blush by covering his face with his hand.

' _Damn, that face is just too friggen cute'_ he thought with a shaky smile.

"O-oh, is that so?" he asked shyly.

Lucy tilted her head curiously, wondering why he was suddenly acting weird.

"Um, yeah. Looks like half the town was affected, it's still going to be a while until they can fix the problem" she said as she read what was on her phone.

"Ah really? Oh well, I guess I better finish cooking now that I can finally see the kitchen again" said Natsu with a smile as he made his way into the kitchen.

Lucy raised a brow quizzically "How can you finish cooking without power?" she asked confused.

Natsu looked at her like she had grown a second head for a second then chuckled at her confusion.

"Uhm, I have a gas stove Lucy, plus I'm an expert with fire so I always have a way to cook food" he said with a grin.

Lucy blinked then blushed at her forgetfulness. Of course this guy would know a way to make food with just fire, it was like she completely forgot who she was dealing with.

"Well excuse me, I should have known that you of all people have something as dangerous as a gas stove" she muttered in annoyance.

Natsu chuckled at that "Well its only dangerous for people who don't know how to use em, as for me I've been cooking my meals over a hot flame since I was ten. So you can relax, I won't set fire to anything while I make our meal, okay?" he said with a reassuring smile.

Lucy's eye twitched in annoyance "If you're so good then maybe you should try being safer with other flammable object as well?" she said when the memory of all the fires he made went through her head.

Natsu chuckled nervously "W-well I guess you have a point there" he said as he lit his gas stove and placed a pan on top.

Lucy sighed in exhaustion when she suddenly felt something fluffy rub against her leg, making her yelp in fear.

"Something wrong Lucy?" asked Natsu from the kitchen when he heard her scream.

"S-something rubbed against my leg!" she cried, pulling her legs under her on the couch and hugging one of the cushions against her chest.

"Oh that's probably just Happy, you don't have to worry he's about as dangerous as a daisy" said Natsu with a chuckled.

Happy, if Lucy remembered correctly that was the name Natsu gave his cat. She looked down and saw that it was indeed Happy that had rubbed against her, and for some reason he was now staring at her with a strange look in his eyes.

"A daisy huh?" she muttered as she put her hand in front of his nose so that he could smell her.

Happy first looked at her hand cautiously then took a small whiff. Once he was done he deemed her to not be a threat and rubbed his head against her hand affectionately.

"Well aren't you just a little cutie pie?" said Lucy affectionately and she scratched him between his ears.

Happy started purring loudly which made Lucy smile affectionately.

"He's so cute, I'm glad you took him in Natsu" she said.

Natsu blushed and smiled shyly when she said that. He looked at the chicken that was frying now and noticed it was almost done.

"Well what can I say, I couldn't just leave him all alone. Plus he got super attached to me once we got out of that tree" he said with an affectionate smile.

Lucy laughed softly at the memory. When they got to the tree he was stuck in, Happy had his claws deep into Natsu's leg. Even after they got to the ground Happy still refused to let go, it was quite funny watching Natsu limp into his house with a cat stuck to his leg.

"Yeah I remember seeing him clawing at your leg. At least it was one of the less stressful times you called us over" she said with a sigh.

Natsu hung his head in shame, he wished he could erase that incident from both their minds. He wished she wasn't working that day… then again Gray would have probably told her about it and twisted it to make him look like even more of a wimp than he thought he looked already.

"By the way what are you making for dinner?" asked Lucy suddenly.

Natsu looked at her over his shoulder and smirked mischievously "Not telling" he said sticking out his tongue at the end.

Lucy puffed out her cheeks in annoyance and folded her arms "Jerk" she muttered.

Natsu tried to stifle a laugh at her reaction and looked away to try and calm himself down. Lucy just had the most interesting faces and reactions to things, it made him want to mess with her for some reason. Was he turning into some kind of sadist? Or maybe she was a masochist? Hmm?

"By the way, you're not allergic to anything are you?" he asked when the thought crossed his mind.

Lucy looked at him like he had just asked a stupid question "A little late to be asking me that now don't ya think?" she asked with a raised brow.

Natsu shrugged and finished off the chicken "Better late than never right?" he quoted switching off the stove.

Lucy sighed at his absentmindedness and laughed softly "You are so ridiculous you know? Lucky for you I'm not allergic to anything so you're safe" she said with a smile.

Natsu laughed at her answer and grabbed two plates from the cupboard and placed the food on them. Once he finished dishing up he put the plates on his kitchen table and placed a knife and fork next to them.

He looked everything over to make sure it looked good. Once he was sure it was acceptable he nodded his head and made his way to Lucy to call her over.

"Well Lucy, hope you're ready for an unforgettable meal!"

* * *

 **Sigh, I really love these dorks to death. Anyway, don't forget to leave a review guys! See ya tomorrow! XD**


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

 **Hello fellow NaLu shippers! Thanks for sticking with me and this fic so far! This chapter is slightly more serious than the others, but I hope you still like it regardless! Don't forget to leave a review and let me know what you thought. Plus Ultra!  
**

* * *

The food on her plate… was normal.

Thought Lucy in surprise, and it looked edible… delicious even. Lucy could tell by the smell that it was probably spicy, but it still looked great. She found herself swallowing in anticipation.

"It… looks normal" she said out loud in surprise.

Natsu looked offended at her tone "What's that supposed to mean?! What did ya think I was gonna make ya?!" he asked in an offended tone.

"Well honestly, I expected to see you roasting raw meat over a campfire or something? I never expected you to know your way around a kitchen" said Lucy sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her head.

Natsu's mouth was open in shock, how could she say something so cruel!?

"What the hell Lucy?! Do I look like a caveman to you or something?!" he said sadly with his hand covering his eyes.

"Actually I was picturing a dragon more than a caveman. That title would have to go to my best friend's boyfriend" she said with a giggle.

Natsu blinked at her statement then lifted his head in surprise. His face was slowly going red.

"Well… as long as you're thinking of a dragon, I guess I don't mind anymore" he muttered softly.

' _Did she know that I love dragons? I don't remember telling her?'_ he thought bashfully.

"Well you kind of remind me of a dragon. I mean you work with fire, not to mention your wild personality. I'd say you might have been a dragon in your previous life" said Lucy with a giggle.

Natsu sputtered in embarrassment and turned his red face away from her.

"If I was a dragon, then you must've been an angel" he muttered softly.

Lucy blushed fiercely, how could this guy just say stuff like that out loud!? If this keeps up she is sure her heart will explode.

Lucy sputtered, unable to say anything in response while Natsu just stood there with his own embarrassed look.

"Ugh geez! Let's start eating before the food gets cold alright!?" yelled Natsu as he sat down roughly and waited for Lucy to do the same.

Lucy cleared her throat awkwardly and sat in the adjacent seat at the table.

She looked at the plate and placed her hands together respectfully "Thank you for this meal" she said gratefully and took a piece of chicken and placed it in her mouth.

Lucy blinked in surprise. It was… good. Despite being spicy it wasn't overwhelming enough to make her cry, and the flavour was incredible.

"Delicious…" she said as she started eating more.

Natsu grinned with pride and started to dig in his own plate.

"See, I told ya I could cook. This is my special spicy chicken and rice. Course I mellowed out the flavour for yours since I usually make mine extra hot" he said with a mouthful of food.

"Well I must say this is quite amazing Natsu. And now I'm even more convinced you used to be a dragon" she said with a giggle as she took another bite.

Natsu chuckled with food in his mouth, he was glad she liked it.

Natsu noticed he had neglected to put anything to drink on the table and got up suddenly to grab something from the fridge.

"I see I forgot the drinks. Uhm, I don't suppose you'd be okay with beer right?" he asked bashfully. He didn't really have anything he thought Lucy would like. He took her as a girl who liked wine and fancy liqueur, unless she didn't drink at all in which case all he could really give her was water.

"Hello, I'm a firefighter. Of course I drink beer silly. Despite how I look, I don't actually like fruity drinks" she said with a smirk.

Natsu was surprised, pleasantly so. Lucy was just so full of surprises, and such a great girl. He started wondering how she could still be single.

"Well well, Miss Heartfilia, you sure are full of surprises" he said with a grin as he grabbed two cans of beer for them.

Lucy laughed at that and grabbed the beer Natsu handed her and opened it.

"Likewise Mr Dragneel" she said with a flirty wink.

Natsu chuckled and opened his own beer and clinked their cans together.

"To a night full of surprises" he toasted with a smile.

Lucy smiled and nodded her head in agreement.

"You said it"

* * *

They spent the rest of the evening eating and talking about whatever they could to get to know each other better.

Natsu found out that when she wasn't out fighting fires and being a total badass, she would sit at home and write stories about magic and adventure, using her own experiences as inspiration for her writing. He had to say he was very impressed.

Lucy found out that he got interested in pyrotechnics because of his foster father; Igneel. He was considered famous for his pyrotechnics and had even invented new ways to create better fireworks and equipment. He was even nicknamed the Flame Dragon King for his expertise. Lucy was listening in awe as Natsu went on about Igneel, she had never seen him light up so much when talking, and she wished she could meet Igneel in person herself one day.

Then they found out that they had one very sad thing in common; they were both orphans.

The topic was touchy for both of them so they decided drinking another beer would ease the tension.

Lucy spoke about her mother who had died when she was very young. Layla Heartfilia had a weak constitution and got sick very easily. One day she caught a cold, but because of her weak body she wasn't strong enough to fight against it and died. Her death had left a deep scar on Lucy and her father, he became distant over the years and focused all his attention on the company he owned, leaving none for her.

Then one day a fire broke out in their mansion and it almost took Lucy's life. But she was saved by a brave firefighter and only sustained minor injuries and inhaled some smoke. When she woke up in the hospital her father was right next to her and crying. He realised then that he almost lost his only child and was struck with immense guilt over the way he had treated her. After that they slowly managed to repair their relationship. Sadly her father had later been diagnosed with cancer, and by the time they found it, it had spread too far to be helped.

Lucy felt the only reason she was able to fix her relationship with her father was thanks to the fireman that saved her. She was so thankful and inspired by him that it drove her to want to become a firefighter as well.

Lucy started tearing up at the end and Natsu rubbed her back comfortingly which made Lucy smile softly.

Natsu couldn't recall his birth parents, so he only ever regarded Igneel as his father. Igneel had never been married but he wanted a son more than anything, so when he met Natsu he felt a connection right away. Natsu grew fond of Igneel right away and was obsessed with the work he was doing with fire. Once he was old enough Igneel took him under his wing and taught him everything he knew about working with fire. Igneel however was not as all-powerful as Natsu thought he was.

Igneel had been affected by a rare blood disease, one that sadly had no cure with today's medical technology. It was also part of the reason he never had children of his own, the disease could be passed down and he was not the kind of man who would do that to his own blood. When Natsu was ten Igneel could no longer hide the state of his condition from him since his immune system was shutting down due to the disease, causing him to get hospitalized.

Igneel had only a month left after that, and Natsu was left in the care of his uncle Atlas. Igneel told Natsu how glad he was that he got to be his father, and that he had to smile and not cry over his death. He told Natsu to talk about the future and focus on his own happiness.

Natsu was shaking as he recalled his last moments with his father, but he refused to cry since he promised that he would try to smile and be happy as much as possible.

Lucy was in tears over what she heard and got out of her chair and embraced Natsu as close to herself as possible. He wrapped his arms around her and breathed in her calming scent; she smelled like honey and fire, such a warm, comforting feeling enveloped him.

Lucy realised she was making his shirt wet with her tears and started pulling away only to have Natsu tighten his hold on her even more.

"Natsu?" she questioned softly.

"Just let me stay like this a little bit longer? Please?" he asked softly as he tightened his grip.

Lucy smiled softly and rubbed his head affectionately.

"I'll stay as long as you need me to Natsu"

* * *

"So how do you think Lu's date is going?"

Levy was sitting on her couch in her living room, her boyfriend sitting right next to her with her legs on his lap as she read a rather thick book.

Gajeel looked up at the ceiling and thought for a moment.

"I've met the pyro before; he helped me with equipment for one of my stage performances-"

Levy tried to stifle a giggle at the mention of his performing which earned her a scowl from Gajeel.

"Ahem, anyway… pyro is a pretty loose cannon, the guy says whatever he wants and does things at his own pace. It gets him into shit most of the time as you can figure" he said in thought.

Levy looked up from her book and raised a brow at her boyfriend "He sounds a lot like you" she said with a smirk.

Gajeel's eye twitched and he scoffed in disagreement "Please, I'm way cooler than that hothead. Anyway you're missing the point I'm trying ta make here" he said in annoyance.

"Basically you're saying he's the complete opposite of Lucy right?" said Levy with a soft smile.

Gajeel smirked at Levy's answer and rubbed her head affectionately.

"You got it Shrimp. In other words those two are perfect for each other" he said with a chuckle.

Levy giggled and swatted his big hand off her head.

"Let's hope you're right. Lucy deserves to be happy, I just hope Natsu is the guy who can make that happen" said Levy with a thoughtful look.

"You worry too much Shrimp. I'm sure it'll all turn out fine. In the meantime we have more pressing matters to worry about" he said sounding serious.

"Like what?" she asked as she adjusted the headlight on her head.

"Like when the hell the power's gonna turn back on!"

* * *

 **Thanks for reading guys! Don't forget to leave a review XD**


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

 **Hello! Well it's day 6 of NaLu week, so tomorrow is the final chapter XC. Hope you liked this story, it was fun and challenging for me to get all the chapters ready on time. Anyway thanks for sticking with it, and don't forget to leave a review guys XD  
**

* * *

Natsu held Lucy close for a while, his breath was starting to tickle her neck and she was getting more and more flustered the longer he held on.

She had no idea what she was getting into when she first agreed to this dinner date, but she was definitely not expecting this, or the fact that they would get tipsy and start spilling their life stories to one another. She had never done anything like that before, especially not on a 'first date'.

' _I might as well get over myself and admit this is a date already'_ she thought begrudgingly.

But then again… Lucy had never felt so close to a guy before. Sure she had been on one or two dates before, but those guys were all shallow and only wanted to date her because of what they imagined her to be like. They didn't know her at all, but they loved acting like they did.

Suffice to say she didn't go on many second dates. Just the memory of those guys was enough to make her eye twitch in irritation.

Natsu suddenly took a long deep breath and finally let go of Lucy slowly.

"Sorry about that Lucy. I got super clingy there" he said sheepishly as he avoided eye contact.

Lucy also couldn't seem to look him in the eye "I-it's fine… so uhm… do you feel better now?" she asked shyly.

Natsu glanced up at Lucy shyly and nodded his head in confirmation.

Lucy cleared her throat awkwardly and patted his head comfortingly "Well… good. Now, why don't I go grab us another beer huh?" she said with a comforting smile and made her way to the fridge.

Natsu watched her walk with a tender look in his eyes. He was by no means a secretive person, he always said what was on his mind and didn't stop to think about the consequences. But talking about Igneel was not something he did with just anyone. In fact he couldn't even remember the last time he told anyone about him, it was such a refreshing feeling. It always made him happy when he talked about his dad, he didn't like feeling sad so he tried not to be, but sometimes the memories would overwhelm him and the sadness would come over him.

Having Lucy see him in such an emotionally vulnerable state was definitely not something he wanted, but she was so easy to talk to, and they had more in common than he ever thought they would. When she held him, it was like a bright light had washed away all the darkness surrounding him. He felt so peaceful in her arms he almost never wanted to leave them.

He could never have predicted he would fall so hard so fast for someone before. Natsu was a one girl kind of guy, and he always followed his emotions, but this feeling was a first for him and he had no idea what to do about it.

He suddenly felt a cold object being pressed on his head and saw that Lucy was pressing a beer can against it.

"Don't think too hard that your brain will burn up" she said with a smile. She noticed he had this hard look on his face, as if he was trying to solve world hunger or something.

Natsu looked at Lucy with an unreadable expression, which made her feel a little shy.

"Hey, do you remember the day we first met?" he asked suddenly.

Lucy blinked as she took a sip from her beer, confused and wondering where he was going.

"Well it's kinda hard to forget. You were freaking out about your sculpture getting burned to a crisp, and then you had the audacity to call me Mario's sad and less appreciated brother" she said with a huff.

Natsu laughed loudly at that. His hearing had been a little messed up since the fire started because his fire breathing sculpture of a phoenix suddenly exploded, giving him a mild concussion. Not to mention his vision was also blurry so he had no idea that Lucy was even a woman that day.

And come on, Lucy and Luigi could be confused by anyone…

"Well, do you remember what you said to me that day?" he asked with a knowing smile on his face.

' _You idiot! Objects and things can be replaced anytime! Worry about your life and the people who care about you! Next time make these crazy things outside to avoid further damage, or else next time it won't just be your sculpture that gets damaged'_

"Ah… yeah I remember. You pissed me off coz you kept on whining about you beloved sculpture and you didn't seem to care about the fact that your life could have been in danger" she said with a frown.

"You seem to have skipped the part where you slapped me in the face while I was still recovering from a concussion" chuckled Natsu.

Lucy blushed "I didn't know you were concussed at the time. You certainly weren't acting like you were" she muttered in annoyance.

Natsu laughed "True, I was pumping with adrenaline so I wasn't really thinking much" he said with a grin.

"But still, you were like a fiery guardian angel. You yelled and attacked me while everyone else treated me like some victim even though I wasn't hurt much. Your words that day really resonated with me, not to mention you were the only woman on call that day so the guys were giving you a hard time. I had great respect for you" he said with a soft smile.

Natsu knew how hard it was for woman firefighters out there. They were constantly being tested by the men and forced to work even harder in order to be recognized by their peers. Even their training was different which made the guys pick on them even more. Luckily he also knew one other woman firefighter who could put the guys in their place with just a glare, her fiery hair was like a symbol of hope for all woman wanting to become firefighters. Yes, Erza had the men beat in pretty much everything. She even did the men's physical exam when she became a firefighter, making sure that she was known as a woman to be reckoned with.

Lucy blushed at Natsu's words. It was true that she was the only woman on call, since Erza had the day off she was stuck with guys who thought she didn't have what it took to be a firefighter and made a point of telling her about it. She may have taken out her frustrations that day on Natsu, but finding out that he didn't hold a grudge for it made her feel a lot better, in fact he was grateful for it.

He made her sound like some ethereal being or something, she felt like he was placing her on some ridiculously high pedestal that she wasn't sure she could live up to.

"I think you're overestimating me. I'm just a regular girl like any other" she said softly.

Natsu shook his head in disagreement "There's nothing regular about you Lucy! You need to have more confidence in yourself! You are the most amazing weirdo I have ever met, you're smart and kind, not to mention beautiful. Sure you can be a little annoying at times-"

"Hey!"

"But that's what makes you who you are! It's what I love so much about you!" Natsu yelled suddenly.

Lucy blinked in shock, and so did Natsu.

' _Oh holy hell, did I just say that out loud?!'_ he thought with a nervous sweat.

Lucy must have heard him wrong. She must have! There was no way that Natsu had just said he loved her, no way!

Lucy was staring at Natsu with wide eyes and an open mouth. What was she supposed to do now!? What should she say?! She knew he had an impulsive nature but this had caught her completely off-guard.

Natsu was freaking out. Why wasn't she saying anything, or running away, or doing something! She was just standing there staring at him like the idiot he was. At least react or something! Anything is better than this deafening silence!

"D-did you just say… th-that you… l-l-l-l-love me?" asked Lucy in a surprised tone.

No, scratch that, silence was better.

' _What should I do now?! Should I deny it? Well I meant it, and denying it might make her think I say that to anyone! Ah crap!'_ he thought in a panic.

"Answer me Natsu" said Lucy in a serious tone.

Natsu looked at Lucy and saw that she was giving him a hard stare, one that held no room for arguments. Natsu took a deep breath and tried to calm his racing heart.

He meant what he said, might as well face it.

"Yeah… I do" he said with a red face as he looked at Lucy with serious eyes.

Lucy's face felt like it was a supernova. She sputtered, opening and closing her mouth unable to say anything. She felt like she was chocking.

His confession… it filled her with such indescribable happiness and panic she didn't know what to do. Should she say it back? Should she say thank you? She was at a loss.

For as happy as she was about his confession, she wasn't sure she felt the same way just yet.

She knew she liked him, a lot. He was such a sweet guy and he always found a way to make the butterflies in her stomach go wild. But, she couldn't call it love… not yet.

"Look I don't need to hear your answer right now" said Natsu suddenly.

Lucy looked up at him in shock "Huh?"

"I know I sprung that on ya out of nowhere. And to be honest I've pretty much felt like this about you since day one. But I know it's not the same for you" he said with a sad tone.

"Natsu, I… I really do like you. A lot, I have never liked a guy this much my whole life! It's just…" she argued with a defeated tone.

"It's not love, right?" he said with a small smile.

Lucy looked to the floor in defeat. She couldn't find it in her heart to finish her sentence. Some writer she was, she couldn't even speak anymore.

"Well I guess that just means I have to turn it into love right?" he asked with a cheeky grin.

Lucy lifted her head in surprise "What?" she asked in confusion.

"But I gotta warn ya, once you fall for me you'll never be able to love another man ever again! I am ridiculously lovable!" he yelled with determination while he pointed to Lucy accusingly.

Lucy couldn't help the giggle that left her throat at his declaration, and it eventually turned into full-blown laughter. She was laughing so hard she had to hold her stomach.

She took a deep breath to try and calm herself and smiled widely at his satisfied face.

'I have a feeling it won't take much time for him to convince me I'm in love' she thought with a smile.

"Are you sure you can handle me Dragneel? You said so yourself, I can be pretty annoying" she said with a teasing smirk.

Natsu smirked back at her a challenging glint in his eyes.

"Oh don't you worry Heartfilia, when I want something I do whatever it takes to get it"

* * *

 **Bet none of you saw that coming, mwahahaha! Leave a review please XD**


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

 **Well guys its been a fun ride, but sadly all good things must come to and end. Thank you for all your reviews and favourites. Please enjoy the last chapter, and the little piece at the end. Lots of Love from JellyBean ^3^  
**

* * *

Eventually the power had come back on, and the lights had brightened up Natsu's home. He whooped in relief and walked throughout his house to blow out all the candles and put them back in his drawer.

After Natsu's abrupt confession and Lucy's mild panic, the awkward couple had a few more beers and decided to watch a movie to keep their minds occupied.

Action of course, since neither were in the mood for rom-coms right now.

Since Lucy was his guest Natsu gave her first choice of what to watch and her selection once again proved how right she was for him.

"Dragonheart?" he asked with an elated grin.

"Don't judge, but I absolutely loved this movie as a kid. I mean sure it made me cry like a total baby but its still a great story" she said with an embarrassed smile.

"Damn Lucy, you keep this up and I'm afraid I won't be able to control myself for much longer" muttered Natsu with a flustered expression.

Lucy's face went beet red. What did she say?! Why was he reacting like that?!

"W-why?! What- I mean… huh?!" she sputtered in embarrassment.

Natsu laughed at her reaction and plucked the movie from her now shaking hands.

"Out of all the movies you could have picked you managed to find my all-time favourite. I mean I love How to Train Your Dragon, but classics are classics for a reason" he said matter-of-factly.

Lucy's eyes were wide in shock. This could not be a coincidence right? What were the odds that they both loved the same movie? Next thing you know they'll find out they have the same taste in music as well.

She didn't want to test that, another shock might just make her pass out. The beers certainly weren't diminishing that possibility either.

"Let's just watch the movie before we find out any more weird stuff about each other" she said in exhaustion as she sat on his couch.

Natsu chuckled as he put the DVD in the machine, he got up when it went in and sat right next to Lucy. They were so close their thighs were touching, but Natsu had no problem with that at all. Lucy was a flustered mess but she didn't make a move to slide away from him. He figured that was a very good sign, right?

The movie started and they sat together in silence. Happy joined them eventually from wherever it was he had been, and sat on Lucy's lap, rubbing against her chest for attention.

Natsu glared at the cat with envy, he could have sworn Happy was just doing it to piss him off.

They were halfway through the movie when Lucy started to feel drowsy. The downside to drinking for her was that she tended to get tired really fast if she had more than one drink at a time. She felt herself start to nod off and she ended up losing her balance and falling sideways into Natsu's shoulder.

Flustered she immediately sat up, blushing and desperately trying to blink the exhaustion out of her eyes. Natsu looked at her in amusement as she tried to keep her eyes open with sheer willpower, sometimes he thought her cuteness should be a crime. How had other guys not seen how amazing she was, he was kinda glad she only ever met losers and posers, that way he at least had a fighting chance for her.

Pitying the tired woman Natsu wrapped his arm around her head and placed it on his shoulder softly. Lucy was confused by the sudden movement at first then tried to push herself off him out of sheer embarrassment, but he wasn't having any of that.

"Come on, you're tired right? Just relax" he said in a no-nonsense tone as he kept his hand on her head to make sure she couldn't move.

"But I can't sleep now, the movie's getting to the best part" she whined half-heartedly.

Natsu chuckled and rubbed her head softly, making Lucy feel even more tired as her eyes started to close uncontrollably.

"We can always watch it again tomorrow you know?" he said in a suggestive tone.

Lucy looked up at him from the corner of her eye and gave him a sceptical look.

"Hearing you say something like that in that tone makes me worry for my safety if I fall asleep" she said in a warning tone.

Natsu wore a mock offended look at her accusations "Why Lucy, I assure you I have nothing but your best interests at heart. And all I was suggesting was a second date, what were you thinking of?" he asked in a teasing tone.

Lucy scoffed with red cheeks and slapped his chest playfully, she had run out of energy to react to his teasing and flirting at this point.

"Knock it off you Dragon-boy. And I really shouldn't sleep over, I have a shift in the afternoon tomorrow. Plus if I show up at home in this outfit I don't think I'll be able to live through the teasing" she said as she looked at the screen blankly.

"So be a rebel and just not go" he said with a cheeky grin.

Lucy sighed reluctantly and sat up on the couch "As appealing as that sounds, Erza would literally beat the crap out of me for doing that. And I'm pretty sure she'd kill you for telling me to ditch" she said with a humorous smirk.

Natsu paled at the thought, that woman seriously needed to get a boyfriend.

Natsu groaned in defeat and reluctantly got up out of his seat and stopped the movie.

"Well if that's the case I guess I better take you home then" he said with his hands on his hips.

Lucy blinked in confusion at his offer "You don't have to go that far, I can just call a cab. It's how I got here in the first place" she argued as she got up from the couch.

"Nonsense. A gentleman always escorts a lady home after a date, especially since it's… huh, 1am" he said in a surprised tone.

"One?! That can't be right, have I really been here that long?!" she asked in shock.

"I heard that time flies when you're having fun, guess that was more true than I thought" said Natsu in mild surprise.

"I can't believe it, maybe the power outage affected my sense of time?" thought Lucy in confusion.

"Or maybe you were just having so much fun with me that you didn't care what the time is" said Natsu with a cheeky grin.

Lucy rolled her eyes and slapped his chest playfully which made Natsu chuckle.

"Guess we better get going then. You wait here in the front while I bring the bike out" he said as he walked towards his backdoor.

Lucy's eyes widened in panic "Bike?" she asked fearfully.

But Natsu was already out the door. Lucy was freaking out, she had never been on a bike before! Those things were scary and dangerous! She didn't care if she could fight fires, bikes were a whole different thing altogether.

She reluctantly walked out the front door and waited for Natsu to come around. She heard the roar of a loud engine approaching her and her deepest fears were realised.

This thing was huge! And of course he had to cover it with flames and have an engine that was as loud as a roaring dragon. She pretty much expected that.

Natsu seemed to have grabbed a leather jacket for himself and was holding a thick red hoodie in his arm. He propped his bike with the bike stand and went to the back again for some reason.

Lucy looked at the bike like it was a wild animal about to strike, was this safe? She trusted Natsu, but she didn't trust that bike.

"Here we go, two helmets. I have a black one and one with flames on it which one do you want Lucy?" Natsu asked oblivious to her inner turmoil.

"Natsu I'm not so sure about going on a bike…" she said fearfully.

Natsu looked at her in surprise and tilted his head in confusion "Why? You afraid of bikes or something?"

Lucy turned away from him to hide her flustered face "M-maybe just a little" she muttered softly.

Natsu grinned at her and placed a comforting arm around her shoulders "Don't worry Lucy, I'm a really good driver, plus he's more afraid of you than you are of him" he joked.

Lucy smacked his chest but couldn't help the smile that formed on her face "You are such a dork" she said with a giggle.

Natsu chuckled and squeezed her closer to him before letting go.

"So Lucy, you now have a life-changing decision to make… black or flames?" he asked with a serious look.

Lucy laughed at him and decided to opt for the black helmet, since she was sure the flame one was Natsu's favourite. Natsu nodded and put the helmet over her head.

"It's probably gonna be a little big for you, but it'll still function pretty much the same" he said closing the straps under her chin.

Lucy felt nervous as she walked towards the bike, but she took a deep calming breath and steeled her nerves.

' _Just think of it as an adventure'_ she thought to herself.

"Oh and wear this, it gets pretty windy the faster we go" said Natsu as he handed her the hoodie she saw in his hands earlier.

Lucy grabbed it softly, noting that it was rather soft, and very thick. Without a second thought she put on the hoodie and zipped it up comfortably.

Natsu put his flame helmet on his head and mounted the bike in one smooth movement. Lucy was worried that trying to get on the bike would be like that one time she learnt how to ride a horse. She didn't want to embarrass herself in front of Natsu by falling before she got on.

Luckily she got on unscathed in pride intact.

"Okay, you better put your arms around me. Don't want ya falling off before we start moving really fast" teased Natsu.

Lucy couldn't see it but she knew he was grinning at her and it annoyed her to no end.

Sighing in exasperation she wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. She certainly wasn't going to risk falling of this death machine.

Natsu stilled at the contact and felt his heart go wild in his chest.

' _Oh man, her chest is pressing against my back'_ he thought in embarrassment.

Clearing his now dry throat Natsu took a deep breath and started the engine, making Lucy squeak and hold him even tighter.

Natsu chuckled at her reaction and placed a comforting hand over hers. The gesture was enough to calm Lucy down somewhat, so Natsu started moving forward.

Once he was sure she was in a better state of mind he picked up speed, then stopped suddenly making Lucy bump her head on his back.

"Ouch! Is something wrong?" she asked with worry.

"Uhm, well… where do you live exactly?" asked Natsu sheepishly.

Lucy blinked in confusion then found herself giggling "Oh, right. Guess you need to know where you're going" she said with a smile.

She told him her address, and he seemed to know where the general area was so they moved forward and drove down the road.

Lucy found that the drive there was not as terrifying as she thought it would be. In fact there was something almost freeing about the experience. She thought about her father, and how he would never have allowed her to go so much as five feet near a bike. She wondered if he had the chance to meet Natsu, would he have liked him? She was sure he would, after all he did have this way of connecting with people.

Finally they made it to Lucy's apartment. Was her place really this close? Or did she simply wish to spend more time with him like this, pressed against his warm protective back.

"Damn, I got us here a lot faster than I thought. I almost wish you lived further away" whined Natsu as he took his helmet of and put his hand out for Lucy to grab.

'How is it that we end up feeling and thinking the same things?' she thought as she took the helmet off her head.

Lucy took his hand and dismounted without any problems… not!

The second her leg touched the ground she tripped and fell right into Natsu's arms. He caught her without a problem, but now her face was pressed against his chest and his arms around her waist.

Being so close, Lucy could smell Natsu's cologne. He smelled like pine and cinnamon, she was surprised by how much she liked it.

She could hear Natsu's heartbeat, and how the longer she stayed pinned to him the louder and more frantically it beat. Realising the embarrassing position she was in she pushed herself away from Natsu with flushed cheeks.

She awkwardly cleared her throat and started walking towards her front door slowly, with Natsu following behind.

She took out her keys from her purse and unlocked the door before turning to Natsu.

"Thanks for the ride, and dinner. It was… fun" she said in embarrassment.

' _Oh crap what the hell do I do now!? I've never had a guy walk me to my door before?! Do I hug him? Shake his hand? Do I kiss him?! Oh hell!'_ she thought inwardly panicking.

Natsu, oblivious to her internal strife, just smiled elatedly and placed his hands shyly in his pockets.

"It was my pleasure Lucy. Anything for you" he said in an unexpectedly husky tone that sent warm shivers down her spine. He was looking at her so intensely she thought his eyes would burn right through her very soul.

He stepped closer towards her and placed a hand on her cheek softly, making Lucy's cheeks burn like the sun.

"Lucy… can I… may I kiss you?" he asked with a desperate look in his eyes.

How could she say no to that face? Well not that she wanted to, he was gazing at her so heatedly she was contemplating inviting him inside and not letting him go till tomorrow afternoon. Lucy felt the butterflies in her stomach go crazy at the very thought. She was never like this, so eager to be intimate with another person, what was Natsu doing to her?

Unable to say anything Lucy simply nodded shyly at Natsu's request. That was all the boy needed before descending to her face and claiming her lips that had been haunting his mind for months.

His kiss was chaste and soft, like he was afraid she'd pull away if he went too far. Lucy wasn't having any of that. She put her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, making him squeak in a very unmanly way.

That was all the confirmation he needed before deepening the kiss and pushing her against her front door, making Lucy moan softly, much to her embarrassment. Natsu probed her lips with his tongue, as if asking for permission. She put up no resistance.

She didn't know how long they had been making out, but she was finding it harder to breath and harder to keep it to just kissing. His hands on her back were like fire trails, and they only kept going down further and further to her backside.

She had to slow him down, or else she'd lose her mind.

She slowed down the kiss until they were just pecks and placed her hands on Natsu's shoulders to put some distance between them. She nearly laughed at the whine she heard coming from Natsu, but was pleased to see he wasn't forcing himself on her, he was letting her set the pace.

"I think that's enough for tonight" she said trying to catcher her breath and cool down her burning cheeks.

Natsu sighed and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Good call, I was three seconds away from grabbing your ass" he said with a mournful look, as if he was sad he didn't get the chance.

Lucy rolled her eyes and leaned in to kiss his cheek.

"Mister Dragneel, you are incorrigible" she said in a playful tone.

Natsu chuckled "I don't know what that means, but I'll take it as a compliment since I got you all hot and bothered" he said with a sly grin.

Lucy sputtered and smacked his chest in embarrassment "Stupid"

Natsu laughed and grabbed her hand before she went inside. He brought it to his lips and kissed it tenderly. Lucy blushed at his sinfully alluring behaviour and tugged her hand away in embarrassment.

"Okay, you need to leave before I do something to you" she said forcefully as she pushed him away.

Natsu laughed and turned to look at her "Like what?" he asked teasingly.

"Just go! I'll call you tomorrow alright?!" she yelled in embarrassment.

Natsu turned to her and put out his pinky "Promise?" he asked with a tender smile.

Lucy smiled at the gesture and locked their pinky's together.

"Promise"

* * *

Natsu had been **longing** for a person like Lucy for a long time.

She was the kind of girl he wanted to show off at his high school **reunion**.

Their **admiration** for each other was unparalleled and strong.

They had shared all their **secrets** and become closer than they ever imagined.

And while there will always be a **struggle** in a relationship, they will fight through it.

Their love is a never-ending **climax** and they will only grow closer as time passes.

And even when they reach old age and pass on to the next life, their love will never **end**.

* * *

Hope you all enjoyed the ride! Until next year! Oh, and leave a review if ya feel like it XP


End file.
